The Difference Between
by Bleach-ed-Na-tsu
Summary: What if Xanxus wasn't the reason for his brothers' deaths and the cradle affair wasn't exactly what it seemed. What if, instead, it was Iemitsu with all the power, over Nono and Vongola. What if Xanxus was trying to save his father and his famiglia? What if he started the coup to protect Vongola from the son of the man who was destroying it? AU. Varia!Centric. Rated for language.
1. Family and Famiglia

**This is a pilot. I have the plot, and some chapters planned out, but I'm just kind of testing the waters with this one before I put it into my update cycle. It's pretty darn different (I think) so I would really like your opinions. They're really important to me.**

**This story comes to you courtesy of SV Speedy, my Nee-chan who has a habit of making me write things when I should be doing other things. I actually love this idea, and I have a feeling I'll be writing a lot of things interconnected to this in the future….when I have more time….so enjoy ne?**

* * *

**Summary**: What if Xanxus wasn't the reason for his brothers' deaths and the cradle affair wasn't exactly what it seemed. What if, instead, it was Iemitsu with all the power, over Nono and Vongola. What if Xanxus was trying to save his father and his famiglia? What if Xanxus resolved to become Decimo because he couldn't bear to think of the son of the bastard that destroyed his famiglia becoming Decimo in his place?

* * *

The Difference between

Chapter one: Help and Hindrance

* * *

Xanxus' fists slammed into the ground, the upturned earth biting into the creases of his skin as the tears burned his eyes.

The boy could feel the wrath bubble at this skin, he could feel the heat pumping from his core, he could feel his will writhing. Wrath was so hard to control at the best of times.

But now, Xanxus was about ready to rip men limb from limb.

He snarled when a sob threatened to break through his chest. Instead he stood and kicked his brother's head stone. His last, living brother, was now dead in the ground as nothing but the ashes of his bones, barely together enough to touch.

His burning gaze looked across the three gravestones, the oldest barely a year and a half old.

"You fucking asshat bastards! We were supposed to rule _together_. How the fuck am I supposed to protect the old man now? How can I protect our family now?!"

And there was no answer, and Xanxus was horrified to find that he had expected one.

Enrico, Massimo, Federico…they were all so _vital_ to him. To his family. They had been Xanxus' everything since their father had taken him in. Now he was alone. Their plans were for naught.

"Boss, the boys have gathered." Squalo appeared and Xanxus cast his eyes over the man, his mood simmering but his face blank.

Squalo tried not to frown when he spied his boss' taught face and those hollow cheeks; Xanxus was tired.

Xanxus could see his boys lined up in the tree line, some of the last gathered at the graveyard, Timoteo had left first with Iemitsu and the other guests had followed not long after. But for all their faults, Xanxus' Varia were loyal to the end; he could see more men standing further behind the squad leaders, awaiting their and Xanxus' orders.

"Let's go home then. There's not much point in waiting around. The dead aren't going to give me my fucking answers."

"Xanxus..."

"No, Squalo. Not now."

And the shark commander could only grit his teeth, because he knew this grief, he knew the feeling. But Xanxus had been so damn solemn these last almost two years, the brother had been strong together and were taking Vongola to bigger and better places; but they had been slowly picked off and Squalo had been beside Xanxus every time the man had heard the news. He had seen the chips fly from him and the cracks form in Xanxus even as he melted training rooms and grieved in his spitting curses and whisky comas that lasted days too few. Squalo had been there all the way, and he regretted not being strong enough to stop the cracks.

So Squalo bowed his head and followed the Varia coat and racoon tail to the extended SUV, he heard the boys move behind them, they entered after Xanxus as Squalo stood at the door.

"Get ready, lads. I don't know what the boss is thinking but I'd be fucking surprised if he didn't have a plan in mind already."

And Squalo was so fucking proud when they bowed as one and scattered to their cars and vehicles with eyes burning with the lines of their flames. Varia was fucking Quality and even at a mere sixteen Squalo was so fucking proud because _he_ had a hand in that quality.

As Squalo slid into his seat with the door slamming behind him he watched as Belphegor handed Xanxus –who sat closest to the driver –a round bottomed glass with burnt amber liquid chilling around a giant ice sphere.

"Ushishishi, you should feel lucky, this is the prince's oldest brew."

Squalo watched his boss' eyebrow raise before he started sipping at the drink, a respect, since he'd usually just throw the liquid back. But Squalo and the rest of the guardians knew that Xanxus wasn't just drinking for a quick buzz before his flames burnt the alcohol off; their boss was in for a long, slow burn to bite the edge of his grief while he planned.

"I hope you bitches are ready." Xanxus drawled as they pulled up to the mansion, their car was the only one there while the other boys headed to the opposite end of the estate to the Varia mansion. Their car loomed lonely at the gates, as if a completely different entity to Vongola despite the crests splashed at the sides of the black steel. "Because if you thought our jobs were hard before you have fuck-all idea of what real work is."

Xanxus' grief bloomed slightly as he thought about it because his mind became overwhelmed with images of his brothers, of being told of their demises, of watching them buried. He thought of every plan they made, ever promise between Decimo and Varia and now it would never come to pass.

Yet…

"Fucking right boss!"

Yet, Xanxus could not help the shit eating grin pulling at his lips. Because Xanxus' family might well be falling apart bit by bit, but his famiglia –the one he fought for and forged _himself_ –was still going strong and they would hold up their sky as if they had nowhere else to go.

"Fucking good; I'd have to shoot you all otherwise."

"Vooooiii! You say that like you have no faith in us you bastard!"

"Boss I could never abandon you!"

"Yare yare, you pay me I stay, this better not be a clue that you're going to stop paying me."

"Ushisishis, boss is making tasteless jokes again."

"Mou, such violence, bossu."

Xanxus let their voices lull him as he finished his drink and slinked out of their SUV. They would eat dinner with the Vongola and CEDEF upper echelon as respect to his brothers, after that Varia would go back to their mansion and the planning would really start.

* * *

"_Baby brother, what do you think you're doing?" The voice was soft and amused, though much deeper than Xanxus'._

_Said brown eyed boy glared up into mirthful green eyes and a head of tousled red hair._

"_Enrico, the fuck you think I'm doing?"_

"_Oi oi, Fratello when did our baby brother get such a mouth on him?" A head of black hair entered next, eyes a startling blue; like their father._

"_I don't know, brother, probably from you." And this time a head of not quite brown hair entered with eyes the colour of swirled chocolate._

"_Fratello, Frederico is being a brat to me again! What you going to do?"_

_Massimo's whining was followed by a single beat of silence before the four boys began laughing in loud, boisterous belts that had the maids and butlers outside laughing themselves, though much more quietly. _

_They had all been worried about the famiglia when Xanxus had been brought into it, a rowdy, abused, neglected six years old with wrath flames that rivalled Secondo, which he could only half control; it was no wonder that he was a worry._

_Except the brother, the triplet skies –how blessed the Ninth and his wife were –had immediately gravitated to the violent boy and together the boys had made Xanxus feel safe, and loved. The people in the mansions had never seen such a sudden turn, or such a viciously protective bow in their lives._

_There were rumours that the four boys had resonating flames; an extreme rarity. The rumour mill said that their flames had synced up and that the boys knew if someone had so much as insulted one of their brood. There were rumours that the boys' harmony factor could turn armies to stone if the four so wished it._

_But those were rumours and the mansion was just pleased to have the boys happy, together, and protective. They sparred, they trained, and they learnt together; they were making Vongola great._

_Their father couldn't be prouder._

"_You need to sort him out yourself, Massimo." Enrico grinned at his stockier brother, his teeth glinting in his smile._

"_That's not fair!" he joked, striding over and ruffling the black-haired boy's hair much to his displeasure if the cussing was anything to go by._

"_Baby brother!" Federico, the softest and warmest of the brother's sounded scandalised. "Where the hell did you learn to swear so much? I am so ashamed."_

_Xanxus just sucked his teeth even as Federico's infectious smile lifted his lips. "Like you wouldn't know, Fratello. I heard you swearing up a storm that would put Coyote to shame when you dropped that box of weapon parts on your foot yesterday."_

_Federico blushed scarlet, and turned even redder when Massimo threw his thick arm over his shoulders. "Oho, what's this little brother? I thought you were the innocent one."_

"_Are any of us innocent?" Enrico snorted. "As far as I'm concerned we weren't even innocent the day we were born."_

"_As I remember it, you were only six when you first decided that hiding your flames would be a great way to play hide and seek, Enrico."_

_The old voice at the door had all the boys standing straight and bowing slightly in respect. Their eyes were still laughing even as they stood and greeted their father._

"_Good evening, father."_

_The ninth smiled at his boys, so pleased and proud of them. They were all already so grown up. Xanxus was thirteen, already starting to plan and prep for his future in Vongola; Federico was turning sixteen, the sweetest and gentlest boy with the purest of hearts; Massimo was almost twenty, strong minded and quick to dispel rumour and spite with his intel; and Enrico his dearest boy was already twenty one, ready to take his place and rule Vongola with an iron will and sweet, family-oriented heart._

"_Ah, I wouldn't remember, father." Enrico was blushing and Xanxus sniggered._

"_Ah, of course you wouldn't. How time flies though, you're all so grown."_

"_Now you're being embarrassing, old man." Massimo chuckled, "You're not going senile on us, are ya'?"_

"_Now now, the old man's still as sharp as the dagger he keeps in his cane." Xanxus snorted, grabbing his jacket from the couch before turning back to Timoteo. "You're off to the meeting with Cavallone right? It's my turn to shadow you, shall we head out?"_

_Like a switch the Ninth's face shifted and all the fatherly creases fell away as cold anger flooded his warm eyes._

"_No. Iemitsu will be the only one joining me tonight, I won't have you coming with me to any meetings from today onwards, Xanxus."_

_The youngest Vongola brother startled, his eyes widening as his mind whirled. "Why the fuck not? Have I done something to offend one of the council again, father?"_

"_No, not this time. But I won't have a _mongrel_ coming to meetings, especially one who has no right to a position in the famiglia. Iemitsu will suffice. Don't cause trouble when I am gone, boys."_

_With that Timoteo was gone, the door clicking shut with finality and a terrible roar that shook and spiked the intuition within the Vongola boys._

_Enrico stood straight suddenly, and Massimo and Federico were already at Xanxus' sides, a hand on his head and back respectively; enough by themselves to make Xanxus forget about the barb about his bloodline._

"_Brother, how many times has that been this month?" Enrico's voice carried with the alcoholic tang of dying will as it dribbled from his core and the boys shivered; he was already a boss._

"_He turned me down twice this week; from what I hear Iemitsu has been the only one joining him for the past two months at least; I hear plans of that Basil baby joining him when he's turned ten." Massimo growled, his mind running over the various schedules and documents he had gleamed from CEDEF and the Vongola database just two nights prior._

"_Even before then, the last council meeting I walked into, the Lion was the only one who spoke for Vongola's behalf." Federico replied, pressed close to Xanxus._

"_I don't like this, Brothers." Xanxus' voice rumbled as his protective instincts meshed with his intuition._

"_Ah, I don't either." Enrico replied, turning to his brothers, and like the rumours said, their flames flexed together as their eyes glinted with their respective sky flames. "Iemitsu is up to something, and I'll be fucked if I let that man hurt our family."_

* * *

Xanxus woke sweating. The burn in his eyes ignored when he stood and glided to the shower to wash off the stink of nightmare from him.

He worked robotically, his mind on the memory, trying to decipher every single bit of information he could. That had been almost four years ago now, and things had only been getting worse and worse. Especially now that the only three others –besides those Xanxus had told –who seemed to notice this oddity within Nono were dead.

Dead men didn't talk.

When Xanxus crushed the glass of water in his hands he only growled before he heated his hand to sear the wound; he had no time for bandages this morning, he'd done it before and these scars wouldn't even be that noticeable eventually.

Right now Xanxus had work.

He could hear the hustle in the dining hall from all the way at the stairs, it wasn't unusual and in fact it had become quite the comfort to the Varia leader. Which was why he strolled in without so much as an announcement, there was the usual greeting before the place dissolved into shouts and snores and boisterous laughter that was entirely Varia.

"We have to steal the rings."

It was straightforward and calm. Xanxus' voice was never so calm, but not one of the guardians could ignore the line of cold acceptance in there too as Xanxus took his seat at the head of the table. It hadn't taken them long to accept and start their own plans around their boss' once Xanxus had finished his sentence.

They and the rest of the Varia had long since stopped worrying about this trait. They were practically one body now.

Things had not been good the last six months.

Xanxus hadn't kept the theory his brothers and he had concocted a secret for very long once he had started to build his own Varia and had Tyr defeated. Upon Squalo's victory he had known the man –boy at the time –loyalties laid with Varia and so Xanxus told him of the disarray in Vongola.

Squalo had been to all of three meetings with the Ninth before he approached Xanxus with a scowl and angry eyes. "He's being brainwashed."

That had been two years ago and now the whole Varia knew what was happening. But that didn't mean they could do much. The last sixth months had drained the Varia of resources and wills.

Nono had given them only the most difficult of hits; ones that lasts months and pushed their recruits to the limit. He had sent fewer and fewer recruits for training, choosing instead to pull recruits from either CEDEF or one of the sister famiglia in the alliances; forcing Varia to find their own recruits from dwindling masses, and with missions getting harder and harder their ranks were diminishing.

It was fucking annoying and many a time Xanxus had to listen to his guardians –the squad leaders –whining and bitching about the problems. Or, to the rats within the Varia walls it sounded like bitching.

Xanxus and the guardians were planning, gathering, and growing stronger even under the thumb of Nono.

It was tragic though, Xanxus couldn't even recognize the shell of the man anymore. He seemed completely the same, he smiled and laughed and he spent time with his recruits and guardians. He drank bourbon with the Don of the Calico famiglia, and he played crochet with the Donna of the Spanish gang. He hadn't changed in routine or grace.

Until anything to do with decision making, information gathering, or Xanxus was concerned.

Especially now that he was getting older.

Timoteo was almost eighty, which for a Mafia Don was already well into the age at which most bosses met their maker or else retires away from the limelight. But he was also without an heir as far as Xanxus was concerned.

"What do you mean by that, boss?" Levi asked, pausing from his meal to watch Xanxus carefully; most mornings like this when his flames fluctuated so much, Xanxus was like a feral cat. He could be curious and warm one minute, and chewing on your bones the next.

"Vooi, are you so fucking thick lighting pervert. We need to steal the Vongola rings from those fucktard seniors."

Levi blushed, but was cut off before he could retort and save his 'honour'. "Ushishishishi, you're going to force your candidacy."

Xanxus made a type of affirmation noise as he chewed on the food that had been placed on the table in front of him.

"Well if the old man won't give it to you, you have no choice." Lussuria announced with a hand on his chin as if in deep thought. "The question is how and when, we need to be careful or else we'll tip the balance in the mafia."

"Yare, it's so tiresome. But so far, no one seems to know of our inner turmoil; it'd be costly if they suddenly did."

"Vooooooi! The Cavallone brat is catching on."

"Is he now?" Levi snorted.

"Explain, shark trash."

Squalo didn't even bother sneering at the name before he fell into second-in-command mode. He sat straight and his gaze didn't waver from the intense brown of Xanxus' eyes, smug at the interest and pride deep within them.

"He keeps pestering me about the Vongola status, and what he can do to help whenever he drops by unannounced." Squalo explained, "He laughs it off and says he misses the company we used to keep in school but that show-pony knows something wrong in the echelon. He asked me the other day what happened to when the boys used to shadow their father; says the old lion is boring company during the meetings."

Xanxus did look impressed, and from the laughter and hums down the table the rest of the Varia were too. Dino wasn't the sharpest tack, but when there was trouble about he seemed almost able to smell it; his cavalry were usually the first in line to aid Vongola. With Squalo's friendship with the horse-Don it gave Xanxus and his boys the upper hand; especially if he was noticing something wrong with the old dogs of Vongola.

"Ushishishi, and here I thought the stable peasant wouldn't amount to anything."

"The show-pony may not be my type but he certainly isn't an idiot." Lussuria hummed.

"But if he's noticing the cracks in our foundation other will too." Mammon's voice for once wasn't mocking and there was a true worried strung within it.

"We need to act soon. If I can get into the throne before too much of our foundation is lost we can settle this fucking family before my father bites the dust and the underworld won't feel so much as a breeze."

"So eloquent, bossu." Lussuria sounded disappointed.

"Who the hell has time for that, lady trash?" Xanxus snorted, finishing up his coffee before turning his gaze to his guardians, amused by the excitement in their limbs all of a sudden. "So which of you trashes can give me a deadline for the coup?"

"The prince says we move in a week." He grinned. "Ushishishishi, there will be so much blood."

"You fucking insane? Most of it will be ours if we move now, child!" Mammon seemed most offended by Bel's offer. "I say no more than a year."

"Too long! Boss' honour is at steak!" Levi growled before turning to his boss. "I say we can move in two months; _my_ recruits will be ready by then."

"You're all Neanderthals, we need to move with style; I say four months." Lussuria said in sing-song.

Squalo was quiet the entire time, hand on his chin as his sword arm flicked on and off, the sword making a silent 'shink' as it moved.

"And you shark commander?" Xanxus mocked, "Your awful silent for such a large mouth."

"You fucking jerk ass boss." Squalo muttered before turning to Xanxus. "We'll be able to move within seven months, any longer and our movements will get to the Ninth's guardians, any less than six and we won't be ready."

Xanxus grinned, the mug in his hand cracked as his excitement, frustration and anticipation manifested his flames in his palm.

"Fucking brilliant." He hummed. "Prepare yourselves, trashy guardians. We move to take Vongola back in exactly six months and four days. Get your boys ready; the Varia are staging a coup d'état."

* * *

It was chaos. Gun shots and shouts echoed the halls of the Vongola mansion though unlike the usual boisterous laughter that followed there were nothing but war cries. The shouts weren't even in protest and laughter, they were terrified, order bearing shouts.

"Where is the Ninth?" Coyote was the current storm of Vongola and his eyes raged at the chaos.

"Fucking Varia drove him towards the underground banquet halls." Visconti scowled, shoving some of the Varia squad members down the stairs as he drew to Coyote's side.

"Fuck." Coyotes bullets found fleshy thighs and meaty shoulders as he broke through the ranks, the other guardians, beside Bouche and Brow Nie –who had managed to stay with Nono –drew to his side. "How did we not have any warning for this?! The Varia have been quiet."

"Ushishishi, that's what we wanted you to think."

Belphegor appeared like a ghost, knives glinting as he spun them round and round, blood already splattered on the barely teen's face and clothes.

"We wouldn't be Varia if we let dogs like you know our plans." Mammon appeared too, mist coiling around his feet. "We're paid for our Quality after all."

"You little brats." Ganauche was scowling, his young face looking suddenly as old as the oldest of the Ninths guardians. "You are part of _our_ famiglia. You dare you bite us?"

"Mou, we stand with the Vongola," Lussuria cooed even as sun flames licked at his joints, "But when the famiglia has been compromised we have to make our move."

The guardians roared, offended by such threats and insinuations, it was Schnitten whose voice rang out though, even as he probed with rain flames to try and soothe the raging Varia. "You accuse us of being compromised?! Who is it that's threatening the famiglia now?"

And the three Varia guardians didn't even pause, "The Ninth." Rolled from their tongues without stutter and slowly the world dissolved into a field.

"While Boss brings the famiglia back into rights, how about you give us out money worth."

"The prince has been looking for a good fight."

"You little brats!"

Chaos. Fire and screams and blood filled the Vongola mansion as the Varia tore through it with guardians and squad members and flames and tricks. They weren't the best of Vongola for nothing, and the Vongola had forgotten that fact far too easily.

After all Varia were a part of the Vongola, but they were a beast, and even tame creatures could turn and bite if the hold on their leash was left loose enough.

"Sounds like out boys are having fun with the guardians." Squalo seemed to purr with pride, the mother of the Varia indeed. The thought had Levi and Xanxus snorting.

"Those idiots would have fun with a brick wall." Levi's attention was only half on his retorts, instead his parabolas were flying around, lighting the various Vongola squad members, and Brow Nie up with lightning flames.

"And you're telling me you wouldn't?" Xanxus snorted, his guns blasting holes and scorches along the halls and stairs, taking Vongola out with each flash of wrath flames.

Levi choked for a second, grovelling and flailing like the prideful but easily embarrassed brute he was. Xanxus and Squalo just rolled their eyes. "Oi, lightning dog, stand guard here and don't let any of these grunts get in. We're going to deal with the Ninth."

"Oi! You don't order me around! I only listen to the Boss."

"And the boss is fucking done with your bitching!" Xanxus retorted. "Take care of the stupid Brow Nie and wait for further instructions."

"Y-Yes boss."

Squalo rolled his eyes as they moved away from Levi. The lightning guardians spun on his heels and all the two hear pillars of the Varia were aware of next was the hall and ballroom lighting up in bright, rough light as screams and protest echoed from Levi.

"Fucking trash! You'll never get past me! I am the boss' right hand!"

"Sometimes I don't know who is more ridiculous, your lightning mutt or that stupid martial artist."

"I'd say you all have a dangerous flair for the dramatic, boys." The voice was silky and halted both Xanxus and Squalo just before the last hall before the fall-out bunker; the only place the Ninth could have gone.

"You need to move, Bouche." Squalo warned, his sword glinting in the light of the mist flames.

"I need to do nothing for _traitors_." The sound of his fury was disgusting, and Xanxus almost felt bad for the old man. It seemed that Iemitsu had not only poisoned the Ninth, but his guardians as well.

The waste of space advisor was going to pay.

"Squalo."

"Don't waste your breathe, boss. I got him."

"Got me, huh?" Bouche sounded offended, and his ire translated into the flames gathering around him.

Squalo just grinned, and amongst the shield of water that rose up from Squalo's sword and core, Xanxus sprinted past the Ninth's mist guardian and slammed his way through the doors that lead to the largest, darkest of banquet halls in the Vongola mansion.

"Fuck." Bouche tried to follow but Squalo appeared in a flit of rain flames with a grin across his face and flames reflecting off his white hair.

"Ah-ah, you're going to have some fun with me first. Boss is busy."

"Don't get cocky, boy."

"We'll see if you're calling any of us boys after all this."

* * *

Xanxus was quick to melt the lock when the doors slammed behind him and then his eyes roamed the room until he spotted his father standing from the throne that had obviously been in the room for too many years.

"You've made a real mess of my family, father." Xanxus snarled.

"I've made a mess?" Timoteo asked, his moustache rustling and one grey eyebrow rising. "Xanxus, what are you doing, why would you cause such strife among us?"

Xanxus gazed upon the ninth as he cornered him, the man seemed for once normal. His eyes glinted with warmth and his posture was relaxed. His voice though, it hadn't sounded so cold in Xanxus' childhood.

The pair stared each other down for a long time, their flames probing and clashing in the way that only Skies could do. Xanxus searched for his father within the man that looked like his father; he looked for that grief that came with being in the mafia with a warm heart, and that fury that should come with losing sons.

Xanxus couldn't find any of it, he couldn't see those tells within the blue eyes that were usually so embarrassingly open. Xanxus had always been able to read Timoteo –as about ninty percent of the mafia could- those eyes were ones that could do the same in return.

Now though, now Xanxus was certain that Nono wouldn't even be able to see the truth laid out before him. So even as the minutes dragged on Xanxus closed his eyes and let his breathe build before releasing it.

When he looked at the aged man before him again, his eyes had dyed red from his rage flames and he knew that he probably couldn't save the man from himself with words alone.

"The Varia have had enough with you and your ridiculous decisions; we're taking the rings from you, Ninth." Xanxus' voice was even, his conviction bleeding into his tone and setting it in stone will to the extent that Nono seemed to shift under the pressure.

"Why would you even want the rings, son?" Nono's voice was soothing, and Xanxus wanted, for all he was worth, to believe that he was the delusional one.

"Because I'm the rightful heir to this famiglia, and since you can't see it for yourself we gotta take it from you." Xanxus retorted carefully, watching for any sign of attack or protest.

"You are not the heir." Nono replied smoothly.

"The fuck he isn't." Squalo charged through the doors, flooding the room with blue flames, Xanxus would have snorted if the situation wasn't so dire, his second in command looked as flamboyant as the sun guardian when he let his flames flood like that.

Xanxus didn't know whether to be surprised at how quickly Squalo finished off Bouche or how long he and the Ninth had spent staring each other down.

Surely a changed man shouldn't have let Xanxus show such weakness. Maybe he could be saved-

Xanxus bit the inside of his cheek to pull himself from those thoughts. He couldn't let himself get emotional. He had decided that he probably couldn't save his Father with words; he needed to keep his mind clear and on that decision.

"I thought I told you to take care of that stupid mist, trash."

"And I fucking did, but I ain't about to laze around when you're still fighting. And why the _fuck_ did you melt the locks, are you fucking stupid? You're too much god damn work for your own good." Squalo retorted, swinging his sword arm around wildly. "You should be thankful I think you're even worth half the effort you put me through."

"Fuck that."

Squalo was going to retort, but then the accented voice that had caused all their problems appeared form the shadows, ghosting to Timoteo's side.

"As entertaining as it is to see brat's act like men." Iemitsu began, "The Ninth has told you that you aren't the candidate for Decimo; stand down now and we won't have to put you in your place."

Squalo did snort this time, sneering at the Lion of Vongola. "Is that fucking right? What can an old man like you do to us, we're Varia Fucking Quality. You're rusted and spent!"

Iemitsu's dirty eyebrow raised suddenly and men filtered in from the same direction as Squalo, and Xanxus knew immediately that they wouldn't touch him. "Go deal with them."

"Aye boss, don't die while I'm busy."

Squalo went off, drawing the men away and dropping them like flies, but he stayed close enough to listen to the proceedings; they'd tell him what plans he needed to make and what disasters were about to happen.

His sword arm was aching.

"Iemitsu." Xanxus muttered.

"Xanxus."

"What you do to the Ninth then, huh bastard?"

"Nothing, you're deluded boy, you must have hit your head, or perhaps that dirty blood of yours has poisoned you."

Xanxus growled, turning to the aging Mafia Boss. "You gonna let him talk about me like that? Since when were you such a coward you let your advisor speak for you?" His father didn't respond to that jab.

"I am no coward, Xanxus. You are sick boy, make your boys stop and we can put this aside. We can make Vongola great. If you follow my lead and Iemitsu's."

"Like I'd ever listen to that bitch. Besides, what you gonna do when you die, old man? You can't leave Vongola to that bitch beside you, he's already got CEDEF; there'll be mutiny in the underworld if you break the code."

"You don't have to worry about that, Xanxus." And Iemitsu spoke with such candour that Xanxus shivered. "The Ninth has an heir now."

"The fuck he does!" Xanxus replied with smugness and assuredness. "My brothers are dead, and Primo's line is done. He has no choice but to make me his heir or else face me and my boys as we take the right _from_ him."

"I have an Heir, Xanxus, and he isn't you." The Ninth replied, voice warm and smile soft. "Dear Tsunayoshi has always been my heir, and now that CEDEF has agreed with me there will be no arguments in the Council or underworld."

Xanxus reeled, eyes bulging and rage flame licking at his skin. "You're joking. There will still be mutiny! No one will accept the blatant bias in that! Iemitsu's his fucking father, they'll call you a traitor! They'd never let CEDEF and Vongola be led by blood relatives."

And then Iemitsu smirked and Xanxus was hard pressed not to pull out his guns and blast the man's face off and be done with this entire shit fest. But his father was still beside the man.

"You have no need to worry, brat. I will step down as soon as my boy's inheritance ceremony. Basil will take my place."

Xanxus couldn't believe his ears, and Squalo though only half listening felt like taking a sword and running it through both the Ninth and Iemitsu. This was turning into a bigger clusterfuck than they could ever imagine.

"You're insane. That's your boy, he's what, not even ten yet and you've already decided that he's going to be a boss? He's a fucking civilian, he'll ruin Vongola! If you think I'm going to follow some pampered wimpy ass child you've got another thing coming! My boys and I will end him before he even has a god damn chance, then what'll you do huh, Ninth?"

"I'll end you." The ninth lifted his staff in a way familiar to Xanxus in an infantile memory of screams and then silence.

"You've gone god damn mad. You've let him take you over, old man. You told me about that boy, about how innocent and sweet he is. You told me that he was like Federico and you want to fucking sully him? What happened to you, what did that fucking bitch Iemitsu say to you to change you so?!"

It was a long shot, Xanxus knew, but if he had to rip his father's heart apart to save his Famiglia then so fucking be it. Xanxus had to try to reach that soft spot –that loyal protective spot –that had made Vongola more of a family these past years.

"You brat, don't you dare talk to the Ninth like that, we'll have you culled for your insubordination. Varia is still a part of Vongola!"

The Ninth seemed to shift uneasily as Xanxus' words hit him, even as Iemitsu roared beside him. But instead he sighed and looked at Xanxus with eyes so strange to him. They were still that warm blue that Xanxus remembered saving him, yet they held not a single forgiveness in them; not a single care for Xanxus or the famiglia or himself anymore.

"I have made my decision and it is unanimous amongst CEDEF and myself. You will learn to hold your tongue boy, or else I will make sure you never utter a word again."

"You're fucking joking. You're going to make this bastard's _civilian_ son Decimo?" Xanxus' snarl was feral and pitched high. "You're a fucking joke! My brothers must be rolling in their graves! What's wrong with you?!"

"There's nothing wrong, son." Timoteo hummed in that voice that had once soothed Xanxus' every childhood nightmare, now it was a poison, an insult to the man who spoke them. Because Xanxus couldn't be sure they were really his father's words.

"Nothing wrong?" Xanxus' voice pitched finally, his voice cracking in a way that made everyone remember that this boy was only sixteen. "The fuck is with you, Timoteo? What the fuck happened to the man who took me in? Who made Vongola great? What happened to your _fire?"_

Timoteo flinched back at the insult, his will bucking against his restraint at the insult. "I burn strong boy, stronger than your mutt blood ever will!" Nono's voice was cold, the soothing bass to it turned tenor and mad and he grew pleased when Xanxus' eyes widened enough for him to see the pain Xanxus felt from the jab.

"Who do you think you're talking to, boy?" Iemitsu asked, trying to stifle a grin on his lips as he watched the feral blood rise in Xanxus.

The boy was so easy to goad and Iemitsu got a sick pleasure in his lower belly when the boy roared and spat like a misbehaving cat; especially because Iemitsu knew full well he held this pseudo-lion's pride in his palm and one snap would end the boy's fight.

It was disgusting for Xanxus to know how far they had fallen. How weak his father had become while he was off trying to build up a wall of men and guns to protect them. To think that sick bastard, the man both him and his father had _trusted_ to protect them would dare poison them from the inside made Xanxus' stomach buck and fury boil a deeper, darker sky flame in his palms. He felt it his fault that this was happening, that he was facing that same man, his father standing like a puppet, with the same worth as if he were crumpled in the corner. It was his fault, and his Varia were not yet strong enough to protect Vongola –their famiglia –it hurt him more than he wanted to admit.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, _**Iemitsu**_?"

"Boy, you'd be wise to remember who you're talking to when you use that tone." The blonde snarled from beside Timoteo. Xanxus wanted to rip his father from the man's side like never before. Especially when Iemitsu placed a hand on the aging man's shoulder.

"Get the fuck away from my father." Xanxus snarled.

"I am no father of yours, boy. You've known that for years."

And Squalo almost threw up when he saw the strangled half-rage half-grief on the boss' face; Xanxus had never in all the time Squalo had been with him looked so vulnerable. It made Squalo bristle, it made him want to throw up a wall of _anything_ and not let anyone see his boss breaking so. It was his job as guardian to not _let_ anyone see his boss in such a state.

Yet here he was, fighting grunts to instead of protecting his boss as this coup played out.

"What have you done to him?" Xanxus' voice was deceptively quiet and Squalo's instincts were _screeching_ at him to run. To get far away. His flame core was reacting similarly, because this rage, this was not so simple, this was the fabled Wrath that the Secondo was so famed for.

Squalo's sword arm was aching; something was going to go so fucking wrong tonight. His gut clenched.

"Fuck."

Bodies fell at Squalo's feet and his boot squeaked as he spun around roaring as rain flames poured from his very skin.

"Boss!"

Xanxus charged forward and his eyes caught sight of the smug fucking smile on Iemitsu's face, and had he not been so furious, so full of grief, he would have noticed his intuition rear up.

But it wasn't hyper intuition, it wasn't the type of intuition burning though Nono and Iemitsu's veins and so it wasn't so obvious. This was hard earned intuition that Xanxus had cultivated, and therefore it was flawed by his emotional state. Xanxus in a clear minded state always kept an eye on this intuition; he'd curse himself one day when he realised he'd let himself slip.

He was barely aware of his squad leaders flooding into the hall as their own battles drew to a close and they managed to get back to their leader, he was not aware of their screams and shouts and protests and flames until he felt them brush his own will.

Xanxus roared, his scream's echoed in the hall and everyone in the mansion felt the ground tremble and the screams shriek across the grounds, as if the mansion itself were screaming with its boy.

Ice crept over his entire body, and he writhed as his guardians clawed at the ice with their flames and wills, yet still it climbed. Xanxus felt fear for the first time as Belphegor and Mammon streaked towards the Ninth and his advisor only to be stopped by a wall of guards that started falling.

Nono's were cold and his hands held his flaming cane up, he didn't even flinch at the screams, as if he weren't freezing his son in ice that would forever seal him and his flames away from even touch and words.

They fell so easily to Bel's hysterical screaming and Mammon's mind ripping power. _**"We're going to kill you!"**_

Men fell and Iemitsu just laughed.

The fucking bastard, the one who destroyed _his_ family was **laughing.**

Xanxus couldn't even see anymore, the rage flames had not only dyed his once brown eyes crimson but the heat and power was so strong that Xanxus' eyes burned even as he fell too far into his will to kill the insufferable bastard.

Xanxus wasn't even sure he was hearing Squalo's voice anymore.

"Boss you need to calm down. Fuck, Vooiii can't you do _anything_ useful Levi?!"

"Shut the fucking fuck up! I'm trying! It's not melting!"

"Boss!"

But Xanxus wasn't seeing. He wasn't feeling.

The ice was at his knees and still he didn't feel, his wrath flames tore at the ice, trying to protect him.

"B-Boss you need to calm down! We-I can't get my flames past yours!" Even Lussuria was panicked, Xanxus could hear the tremor in the voice; any good boss would.

The ice was above his waist.

"You _bastard!"_ Xanxus' roars didn't sound like his own anymore. The guardians flinched back. "I won't let you get away with this! I won't let you destroy _my family!"_

"You won't have to boy, it's not yours anymore." Iemitsu's hand was on Nono's neck, and the man's eyes looked haunted as the ice continued to form from his cane. "Come, Ninth. I think it's time we ate and then headed to bed."

"You are right, Iemitsu. That's a good idea."

The ice flooded his mouth and eyes and muted his years. Yes still Xanxus heard.

"**XANXUS!"**

And the laughter was still there, even as the ice rose above and beyond Xanxus' head and past his arms, freezing the boy in a position of pure rage, eyes unfocused, body open; it looked as if the ice emanated from Xanxus' core itself, blasting out as it consumed his rage.

And it did consume his rage, the ice covered the energy into a substance of suspension. Xanxus' frozen flames would feed his body and mind so that when he was one day thawed and allowed to walk free again he would not be stifled and stunted.

But Iemitsu just laughed, even as Nono was taken away, even as the Varia were subdued and caged and beat until they weren't going to move for a while: if Iemitsu had his way, Xanxus was never going to be thawed, he was going to be an example for all of Vongola for all the years to come.

Because Iemitsu's son was going to take the throne now, and everyone needed to realise the true power of Primo's line. Traitors would look upon Xanxus –the boy of mongrel blood who thought himself a prince –like a trophy and warning. Only Those of Primo's blood were good enough to _think_ within Vongola.

Tsunayoshi would take the mantle, and Iemitsu would guide him. Just like ha had guided Timoteo these last, crucial years.

* * *

**So this took me a long time to write, and I'm not sure it makes sense, or really where it's going right now. All I know is that I love this concept so much, and it resonates with a lot of my other stories –if not yet than soon.**

**So I would greatly appreciate any input on this you have, opinions, encouragement, anything. I would really really love it.**

**Thank you all, please review.**

**~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3**


	2. This Coup and That

**So by popular demand –and a week without a computer and with a giant muse – here is another chapter of The Difference Between. Something I've been looking forward to writing and something that is flowing rather well.**

**I must thank you dear readers, because you gave me quite a bit to think about, particularly about the relationship between Tsuna and Xanxus and the Vongola in general. While I knew exactly where I was/am ending this story, and in fact the exact lines that will be tying this story off in a few chapters time, your wonderful reviews have certainly twisted and changed the path that will bring us to that ending.**

**So I have to thank you. So, please enjoy and beware of spelling/grammar mistakes, and please do review, it means the world to me.**

* * *

The Difference between This Coup and That.

* * *

Xanxus felt rage fall from his eyes in an exhausting melt that left nothing behind but that slow burn you usually only felt after strenuous, specific exercise for the first time in a long while.

"Good to see you again, boss." Squalo's voice was deep, but Xanxus would know it anywhere, at any time; along with the tell-tale relief that softened every word.

The world was a blurry mess around Xanxus' head, his muscles felt like pudding –but not in an atrophied sort of way –and his ears and nose felt filled with cotton. That didn't stop the flash of silver that flooded Xanxus along with the clean musk that had always been Squalo's scent.

"Wen'd you get a'sex change, Sharkie?" Though slurred and drunk with fatigue and overstimulation, Xanxus' voice was too deep to be recognizable to the man.

Somewhere in the background Xanxus thought he heard whoops and cheers; but he couldn't be assed with the background right now with all the sights and pressures all over his body as Squalo spoke and moved.

"Vooooiii! Eight years and that's how you greet me, boss?!" Squalo sounded shocked, but he had a grin stretched half way across his whole face so Xanxus knew the man wasn't. "Has your stint asleep made you forget, boss? I promised never to cut my hair again; until you became Decimo."

Ah, that made sense, Xanxus' blurred eyes rolled over the hair –a mass of silver that fell straight and to Squalo's ribs. At least the man didn't look ridiculous, long hair suited him more than that mop of buzzed hair from when they were children, in fact.

"Stupid reason for sucha hand'cap." Xanxus mocked, swaying in Squalo's arms as his pudding legs refused to take his weight.

Xanxus felt a growl build in his chest as his body felt de-synced and his flame core rumbled on empty. He felt the fever of its depletion build under his skin and he shivered with the thought of the pain and hunger that would follow.

"All the better to prove our power, then." Xanxus felt his shoulders squeezed tight for a moment before a soft, whispered voice ghosted across his ear. "It's good to have you back, Xanxus."

Xanxus smiled and clumsily returned the embrace with the arm over his friend's shoulders. "Can't get rid of me tha' easy, Squalo." Xanxus used the shark commander to try and stand to full height –he was almost ashamed when it took Squalo's strength to get him there –before he addressed the gathered men. "An' I better not hear that you let Varia Quality fuckin' split, trash."

At his statement, roars and chees rained down around him giving Xanxus a moment to survey his men and the chaos that seemed to be awash in the room.

Xanxus recognised the men, but he had last seen them as boys, younger than, or Xanxus' own age; it was throwing to see once baby fuzzed faces suddenly melted into stubble and angles. But something in Xanxus purred; they had stayed and grown stronger together and Xanxus was fucking proud of that.

Rubble and men were on the floor around the Varia, Vongola and CEDEF, and as his nose grew freed of the stuffing that blocked it, Xanxus grew aware of the smell of Dying Will flames and ice around him. It smelt like cotton with an underlying tang of fire and flesh and sweat and sweet sky flames. It made Xanxus' skin and his core writhe.

"As much as I hate to ruin this touching reunion, time is money." Mammon appeared in a flit of mist flames and slid cold metal into Xanxus' right hand.

"Surprised you stayed, Squirt." Xanxus mumbled as his head lolled to his hand. "Though you'd find a more prof'table sit'ation."

Xanxus mind was halted when his eyes roved over the skin of his arms as he tried to figure out what Mammon had given him. The once proud colour remained but now cuts and abrasions of darker colour patch worked his skin in a tapestry of his crime against and in favour of Vongola. Scars littered him and as the disconnected feeling of his limbs and skin dissolved he realised that the itch and tightness didn't come only from the sudden growth he had to contend with -because he was no longer sixteen, he and his body had aged – but also the scars now recounting his time under ice.

"Fuck."

Silence descended on the hall they had begun moving down, but it wasn't an ashamed kind, but the kind that happened because someone couldn't explain a situation away, having forgotten it was there and happening at all.

"Boss, don't worry." Lussuria appeared and it threw Xanxus more because the man looked barely aged, and more fucking dramatic as if that were even possible. "The zero-point break ice burned you when it was giving you nourishment and keeping you asleep." The sun flame user lifted Xanxus' hand to examine it and turned it over and over in thought. "We can't heal it, but we tried... they aren't normal scars."

"Oh fuckin' right?" Xanxus felt a strange burn across his face and Lussuria's face fell.

"Ah….they react to emotion."

Xanxus looked upon his arms to see the scars move and slide along his skin like demented tattoos, his eyes widened as he watched his muscles move around the scars.

"Well Fuck me."

"Ushishishishi," Bel moved to Xanxus' side and fuck didn't he get big fast? Xanxus could remember the boy arrived, young and vicious and covered in blood, already fitting in with the bloodthirsty but undeniably skilled Varia. The boy's grin was still in place and his eyes ever shaded. "As tempting as that might be, we don't have time; but your look suits you, boss-man."

Xanxus raised an eyebrow, about to ask Squalo what the fuck was wrong with the kid and whether he had suffered more head trauma while Xanxus was out, but then he noticed the rings on not only Bel's hand, but Lussuria's, and Squalo's and Mammon's; then looking at his own hand, Xanxus spied the metal that his illusionist had put there.

"What the fuck were you idiots _doing_ while I was out?!"

Squalo laughed this time and Xanxus thought he heard Levi shout an undignified 'Don't mock boss.' In the background.

"Don't get your hopes up, Boss. We didn't take Vongola for you yet."

"Then the fuck do I have the sky ring?"

"Mou, only half a sky ring, Bosssu."

"Come again?"

"We only have half."

"The fuck? Stop being so cryptic, Squalo. What the fuck is happenin'?" How the fuck am I even out?"

That's when Xanxus noticed how drained his boys were, how dirty and pale and how their chests heaved, he noticed as his will branched out on instincts to protect, that all their cores were half drained.

"We managed to get the half rings from CEDEF before Iemitsu tucked tail and ran after he realised our plans." Mammon explained to his wide-eyes boss. "We started a coup, again. This time, we succeeded, since obviously you are out."

Xanxus stared at his men, shocked, proud, terrified, exhausted, and last but as all those emotions settled and he felt the tell-tale spark of his flames again, Xanxus let his face fall for a second.

"I think you all need to get me up to date." Has he the strength, Xanxus would have wiped a hand over his face.

"It's going to take a while." Lussuria assured.

"Where are we headed?" Xanxus asked again as the men moved around him through the half destroyed mansion as one unit, faster now that the boss was settled.

"Japan, boss." Squalo replied, refusing to give Xanxus' weight to anyone else as they moved.

"Then we have enough time." Xanxus' voice rumbled. "Start explaining, Squalo. I won't be the weak link here."

"Of course, Boss." Squalo replied. "But I'd get some rest while you can; the flight's as long as the story."

Xanxus hum was barely audible before Squalo felt the man's whole weight lean on him. The rain flame user noted that they'd have to build the man back up. While the ice 'cradle' has ensured his body's growth without being stunted and made sure his muscle mass remained optimum it was hollow growth and Xanxus barely weight more than Bel. It was more than concerning.

"Have the team prep all the nutrient meals they can, Lussuria."

"Way ahead of you."

"Good. We're in for a long flight." Squalo finished addressing the guardians before turning his attention to the other men all around him, their eyes lit with steady resolve that Squalo hadn't seen so fired up in years. "To your places boys, we're counting on you to hold down the fort."

There wasn't even a sound, but the order scattered the men with a salute and efficiency; since Xanxus wasn't awake Squalo felt the thrumming pride for him.

* * *

Tsuna felt the dirt press into every crease of his face and he knew it would take weeks to get his ears cleaned again. He felt the cuts and the grit in the wounds on his knees and palms; those would heal by the end of the week.

As he stood, quickly because he knew he'd be pulling a bullet from his calf again if he didn't –and those hurt like a festering splinter had exploded under his flesh and he hadn't had to take a bullet out for almost two years, it wasn't exactly something he wanted to relive –Tsuna growled and cussed out the man forcing him to the ground.

Life hadn't been bad since his god damn father had gone back to work, now it seemed like everything was imploding because the bastard came home.

"Get moving, Tsunayoshi. What did I say about staying down too long?"

"It'd get me shot, sir." Tsuna grit out, trying to keep the pain and panic from his voice when the bullets rained around again, he started to gather flames in his palms, ignoring the itching pain from the blistering skin.

Hopefully Reborn would be able to sneak in some healing this evening while Iemitsu was sleeping.

"Good. Now show me that pathetic resolve of yours, Tsunayoshi. Or else I might slip and wouldn't it be a shame for that little Lam-."

Tsuna was in Iemitsu's face, his flames used as propulsion, before the blonde could finish his sentence. Tsuna's eyes had a tint of red in the golden melt, and Iemitsu grinned. He batted Tsuna around, letting the boy practice his movements before he grew tired, and with another swift kick to the gut that had Tsuna biting his lip to stop the scream, Iemitsu had floored Tsuna and levelled his axe to the boy's head.

"Good job, Tsu." Iemitsu smiled and brought Tsuna to his feet with an offered hand, he patted the boy's head and quickly checked a scratch on his cheek. "I'm proud of you, you're getting strong."

Tsuna felt his gut buck and nausea build in his throat until his jaw tingled. It happened every time his father praised him. He loved the warmth he felt from his father's hands, they were strong and sure, but at the same time Tsuna felt every bruise, every broken rib and stitch and bullet his father had given him or put in him when he patted and praised him.

Something in Tsuna's chest roared at the abuse, it made his flames roar and his eyes burn. He knew his will was furious at his servitude to the man; the man who threatened _his_ wards and guardians, his siblings that were more.

Tsuna wasn't an idiot, Iemitsu had been training him since he was young, and he knew that he was being groomed; but for what he didn't know. But it was addicting too. Being praised by his Dad like when he was a toddler and had just started to learn to spar was the most warming feeling.

His dad being proud of him was the only thing that Tsuna wa-

A fist connected with Tsuna's gut and left him winded, the ache from the last kick to his torso screamed and Tsuna felt tears come to his eyes as he flew backwards and into the dirt.

"What the fuck did I tell you about being distracted? Che, useless boy. He's yours for the evening, Reborn. See if you can knock some sense into him."

With that Iemitsu grabbed his pickaxe and slung it over his shoulder before sauntering away, a hand in his pocket. He was whistling a cheerful tune and grinning as he made his way home, as if he hadn't just broken his boy's ribs or made sure fear seeped into his mind.

Reborn appeared at Tsuna's side as his arm gave out from under him, Reborn –stuck in an infant body –was barely able to catch Tsuna's head before he cracked it on the ground, and together they managed to get Tsuna sitting against a rock. It was a rather pitiful sight to anyone, outside the-know, in which case, for those who knew it was just a tired sight.

That Tsuna was tough as nails, and Reborn was not quite a baby.

"Dame-Tsuna, you need to stop letting him get the upper hand." Reborn's hand was bright as he ran it over Tsuna's torso, a frown marring the face lit by the light of the flames when he realised the sheer damage done; damage that had not been given time to heel. "You know you're strong enough to defeat him. I can only heal so much."

"I'm not that strong, Reborn."

"You are." Reborn growled, a deep timbre replacing the childish squeak usually in its place. "You know you are, and your guardians do to."

"I can' escape him, Reborn. I can't go against him, I'm not strong enough to protect them." Tsuna's face was shaded, but Reborn could feel the flames in the boy's core buck and writhe and knew that his eyes must be glowing like gold. "Not yet. But I will."

Reborn was silent, one hand on his phone while the other tried to get Tsuna's hands back in working order; Iemitsu was a fucking idiot if he thought that crippling his son was going to protect him.

The Arcobaleno had half a mind to shoot Iemitsu and get him away from his student, at this rate Tsuna would die before taking over as Decimo. Reborn was really uneasy, his own instincts screaming at him that something was _wrong._

"Juudaime!" Voices crested the hill as Hayato, Takeshi and Lambo –sitting in Takeshi's arms –searched the ground, when green eyes met Tsuna; whose head was tilted back in exhaustion, panic flooded them, "Tsuna!"

Said brunet just looked up tiredly to his three guardians, flinching when he reached for Lambo and his ribs protested. He took the young boy into his arms regardless. Lambo clung close and even though tears welled he didn't cry.

It hurt all three boys that that was the case, all of them damning Iemitsu.

"I'm fine. Dad was just…ah, a little rough."

"Rough? Tsuna, this is abuse. This isn't rough?" Takeshi's voice was rough and Tsuna watched as his eyes welled with helplessness.

"Baseball-idiot here is right, Tsuna. There's sparring, but this is ridiculous." Hayato was flailing, his brow creased with perspiration dotting the skin as a sun flame bloomed to light, and together with Reborn they healed Tsuna's hands.

It was bittersweet, Hayato's ability, Tsuna had been there when Iemitsu had forced his flames out. Tsuna was still guilty, especially when he caught sight of the scars littering Hayato's throat and hands.

Iemitsu deserved to die, Tsuna knew it. Especially after 'training sessions' with the guardians.

But Tsuna also knew he'd sooner be killed or left guardian-less than actually defeat his father.

"It doesn't matter. I can't stop him, and you can't either. I couldn't live if he killed you. You need to protect yourselves."

Tsuna grunted as he stood, swaying even as Lambo insisted on being put down; Tsuna didn't listen, Lambo was allowed to be selfish and want to be carried, he was only five.

"You have to protect yourself too, Tsuna." Hayato insisted as he stood, Takeshi caught him as the swayed, his flames fluctuating rapidly to make up for the unevenness in the core.

Sun flames were not Hayato's speciality.

"I'm doing this so I can protect you," Tsuna assured, leading his friends towards the house. Hopefully Iemitsu would be asleep and he and his friends could relax for a while before sleeping.

Reborn stayed back, eyes shaded as he growled. Iemitsu wouldn't get away with half of what he did is Reborn was not stuck in this insufferable body. Reborn sighed before he hopped onto Takeshi's shoulder; he couldn't help but be proud of Tsuna's resolve, even if it was going to kill the boy at this rate.

* * *

He would never be able to explain how disconcerting it was to look at himself in a mirror, to breathe and move and smell and taste and talk and know that he was twenty four in body and spirit and to know that his mind –always working and ahead of his time –was catching up rapidly and finally felt at home in his body.

Xanxus was stood in the airplane bathroom, showered, hair moping into his face, shirt undone and staring at a body that was totally his but looked so out of place. He had gone to 'sleep' as a gangly sixteen year old overflowing with rage and grief, with a thriving Varia and a steel-trap mind, and he had woken up a broad twenty-four with a struggling but fighting –fuck he was proud –and a mind awhirl with memories that were ricking and settling the transition from youth to adulthood.

As he watched the way his chest moved his mind reeled over the information his second had provided him while his other guardians added their own opinions and thoughts.

A new coup d'état.

His boys were fucking brilliant, they had faltered a week after Xanxus' incapacitation while the Vongola was messing them up and fucking them over every chance they could.

After that they had banded together and planned.

They had played 'good hounds' and managed to see Xanxus within a month.

They had acted the 'sound mind' and managed to get back into meetings within two years.

The Varia had played their cards right and had an ear back in CEDEF and a plan in place within six years.

Then it fell together, with Vongola trusting them near the ninth, and knowledge of various movements for CEDEF, Bel and Mammon had lead the raid on the inner sanctum while Iemitsu was separated from Timoteo to take the man and his rings.

But Iemitsu was ever the contingency planner, he had seen what was happening and had his CEDEF boy steal the rings, managing only to get half of the rings away before scurrying to Japan. But that still left Xanxus and his boys with half the rings and therefore a chance at overthrowing Iemitsu's bastard child before he had a chance to even warm the half rings his father would give him.

Xanxus closed his eyes, memories spewing forth as he thought about his boys and how incredible they were.

"_The stupid old man only just let us start seeing you again, Boss. Don't worry though, their 'scare' tactics aren't working on us. We'll get you out and we'll show them your pride."_

"_Vooi. Fuck, Iemitsu is changing everything, and the dogs and allies aren't even aware. Even our recruits are turning out to spies."_

"_Ushishishi, the prince tires of this, the old dogs are blind to this turmoil. The Prince can't even get a good conversation out of Visconti. You'd better wake up soon, I do miss out games of risk. Especially when you lose."_

"_Yare. I'll be charging extra for this loyalty, I've shown you. So for your own sake get out of there soon."_

"_I've almost finished the research, bossu. I'm sure I'll be able to get you back into fighting order within a month of getting out. Don't lose faith in us, ne?"_

"_We're getting you out. We have a date and a plan. The old dogs have grown lenient this last two years and have started to train that bastards' son. We're getting the rings this week. Be ready boss; the Coup's about to start."_

All the voices were disconnected and flowed without stop. There were others, venting worries like they had when Xanxus was active boss, some bitching and keeping him up to date with goings on within Vongola, Varia and their allies. But the voices of his guardians were most vivid to Xanxus as he closed his eyes.

The memories had started flowing back into his mind as Squalo had finished explaining what had been happening, a constant buzz of information and emotion, blind or deaf at times, and completely crystal in others.

He knew that without their constant chatter his mind would have been mush. He hadn't been exactly conscious through the ordeal, but he had heard things, and had seen flashes. Those long years would have driven Xanxus insane, he had his stupid boys to thank for how quickly he was adjusting and being caught up; subconsciously there was no need for the catch up.

Buttoning up his shirt and securing his raccoon tail in place, Xanxus sighed and stared at his face for a moment longer. It was odd, seeing a stranger there, he'd get used to it he knew, but he almost missed his brown eyes; now his irises mimicked Massimo's hair. It was a poor reminder of the brother he had lost. Next time Xanxus set foot in Italy he's have to pay his respects with news of the Vongola being in the right hands again and their father's safe return to them.

For now though, Xanxus made his way into the main fuselage where both his guardians were waiting in a relaxed flop and a giant plate of food next to a tall glass of something thick and green.

Squalo gestured to the plate of food as Xanxus sat down. "Eat up boss, we have a busy few months ahead of us."

Squalo watched his boss as the man slumped into his seat and down the green sludge, the man hummed before asking for another glass.

He drained five more before starting on the food.

"So what's the plan from here?" Xanxus' voice was burning with resolve, eight years hadn't changed his burning dire or his straight forward rage.

Squalo was concerned by the fire, since it had yet to truly spark alive again in Xanxus' core. It meant the man would get a lot sicker before getting better.

"Ushishishi, as we speak, the Varia have declared War against the 'Decimo' generation and the CEDEF in the name of Nono. Our plan is simply to spill as much child blood as possible to take our positions from them."

Xanxus notices Mammon mutter something to the effect of 'the child blood is your want, stupid blood-fetish prince, before he turned back to the boys. "Oh, when you move you move quickly. Is there anything else of vital importance I should know?" Xanxus' joking tone was gone and the shiver that ran down his guardians' spines was rather gratifying.

He hadn't lost his tough.

Levi shifted uncomfortable, eyes flickering to the other guardians before back to Xanxus.

"The brat's being trained by Reborn, boss?" He shifted again. "Iemitsu's not taking chances, he's at most of the sessions. Though the last two years he's been more in Italy than Japan. Or so we hear."

Xanxus let that mull over in his head; Reborn was going to be a problem. Especially I the bastard's son had been trained for a while. What was a concern was that Iemitsu had been a part of the training; there was a lot of brainwashing to be done in such a long space of time.

Iemitsu was a bastard but he had definitely _earned_ his stop as the leader of CEDEF once upon a time.

"How longs the boy been training for?"

Mammon drew attention to himself before explaining. "Reborn was called in four years ago, but the grape vine says Iemitsu's gone lax the last six months. Boy's been training since he was young. Some say as young as six years old, some say he was nine."

Xanxus let that stew, getting more and more frustrated as he went. This clusterfuck was becoming more FUBARed by the passing second.

"Your sources can be trusted, you're sure?"

"We have ears in CEDEF, but you know that nothing is infallible."

Xanxus nodded and Mammon faded back. FUBARed barely covered the situation.

"Do we have intel on the boy's ability? His flame? Or his character? Can we scare the scrawny half-breed into submission?"

"We have nothing." Squalo admitted. "Iemitsu was a flaming idiot, flaunted his boy every chance he could, but he was tight lipped about his location and abilities 'til the last second. He wasn't even planning to go see the boy 'til he got word of out attack. He turned tail and ran with the rings as soon as he found out."

"Fuck."

Xanxus had gone through two plates and three more glasses by this point, mulling over the information. He was thrice damned really, everything seemed set up for this child and Iemitsu's win.

But the Varia had come back from worse before and each time they came out on top. They'd make this work no differently.

"Alright. We can make this work. Where's the runt we're going to slaughter? You don't know. Damn" Xanxus could see it in their faces, the disappointment in themselves. "Don't you trashes worry, we'll win this. But I'm going to sleep since you fuckers are boring as hell."

Xanxus' shoulders relaxed when his boys laughed and wished him a 'good fucking sleep'. He almost laughed himself when Squalo fell onto his right side.

"Feeling jumpy, Squalo? I isn't about to keel the fuck over."

Squalo scoffed. "Fucking right you won't." but there was a pause. "Eight years is just a really fucking long time, Xanxus."

The man in question hummed in a way that calmed Squalo. "I ain't about to keel over, Squalo."

"Fucking right."

Silence settled between the pair as they reached the communal room. A giant cacophony of beds and couches; all the boys were feeling a little jumpy to choose this jet of them all, Xanxus realised. He'd have to instigate a giant spar or fuck, a group hug if it brought his boys back to their regular selves at this rate.

"Oi, Squalo."

"Yea, Boss"? Squalo could hear the uncertainty there, not that the long-haired man expected less.

"How's the old man?"

And Squalo understood, he nodded to himself and smiled; here he could give some actual good news for once.

"He's sleeping peacefully. Best sun guards we have are stationed with him. He's going to be fine soon enough. He'll just have to work with the mental whiplash in his own time. The old man'll be guilty, but he'll be fine, Xanxus."

Squalo was pleased to see those shoulders drop at his words.

"And his guardians?"

"Repenting for all their worth."

Xanxus' smile was vicious and Squalo could only let his own mirror it.

"Fucking finally."

* * *

**So this may seem like a rather abrupt ending, but I feel like any more –or any more flashes to Tsuna –would be dragging out the interactions too much, especially since a time skip is really in need right now.**

**Next chapter is more about Tsuna, Reborn, Iemitsu, and maybe some of the relationships of the guardians and Tsuna. I'll be sure to label the sections if there are any time shifts, such as maybe Tsuna meeting guardians before Xanxus is unfrozen etc. Be sure to tell me if I wasn't clear in the future.**

**I would love your opinion, since your reviews were all so positive and gave me some great ideas.**

**Love you all, enjoy your week.**

**~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3**


	3. My Past and Yours

**So I was bored and with limited internet and this chapter is the result. I am totally stunned by your encouragement and the overall response to this fic. I was sure it would be ignored or that people wouldn't enjoy this kind of Varia.**

**I am completely over the moon you love it. So please, read on and thank you.**

* * *

The Difference between My Past and Yours.

* * *

_Timeskip ~ Tsuna: 10 years old. Xanxus: Frozen for six years. Four Years in the past._

* * *

Tsuna loved his family. His mother was kind and caring, and his father taught him all sorts of important things. There was nothing Tsuna wanted more than to protect his wonderful, albeit small, family.

That didn't mean that he didn't hate Iemitsu at the same time.

It had been easy when he was four, because his father wasn't always home, and when suddenly it changed it was wonderful. Iemitsu was suddenly home all the time, day and night for months and years at a time; he played with Tsuna, and when the boy took up martial arts and showed his father, well the man couldn't have looked happier.

He would praise Tsuna and teach him more. It was wonderful.

Tsuna met his first friend somewhere at this point. He was mean and cold, but Tsuna felt an attachment to the boy. Kyouya had been carrying a little bird in his hair when suddenly it flew after Tsuna who had been carrying seeds to the birds in the park with his Mother. Tsuna was cute and quiet and fed his bird, so Kyouya thought him perhaps not annoying and maybe worth keeping as company. When Kyouya found out that this child could fight however, there was no hesitation.

All of a sudden, Tsuna's little martial arts classes once a week, at the local dojo became one-on-one lessons with Kyouya in his personal training room, and despite the bruises and the scuffs, Tsuna was never happier. After all, Kyouya would pull him aside after every training session and would heal Tsuna's wounds, and they'd nap under the cherry blossom tree in Kyouya's back yard.

Iemitsu had left soon after Tsuna turned five, and just before Tsuna turned six he returned; by this time Tsuna and Kyouya were near inseparable.

Iemitsu at first didn't approve. He hadn't seen Kyouya before and the Hibari name was well known in the Mafia as neither allies nor enemies, the family was split exactly; half of the Hibari's went into law enforcement and the other half became heads of lesser mafia and yakuza families or higher-ups of larger ones. That kind of unpredictability was not one Iemitsu wanted around his son; his don needed mafia born, or mafia breed men who would forge his famiglia and make sure Tsuna _stayed_ in his place.

However, when Iemitsu had a training spar with Tsuna he grew fascinated, because his boy was much stronger than he had been, almost exponentially. When he realises Kyouya was that reason he includes the boy in the spars and training.

He had found Tsuna his first guardian; Iemitsu was pleased as a pig in shit.

Because now his boy had _two_ guardians. Iemitsu left again soon after this meeting, and Iemitsu arrived home again after a three month disappearance. When he did reappear, he did so with a quiet, angry boy of six, whose eyes were sad and whose skin was black and blue. Tsuna immediately gravitated to him.

Hayato was a quiet, spitting sort. He was strong, much stronger than Tsuna, and Kyouya didn't approve of him being near his sparring partner. Not until he watched Hayato dive-tackle Tsuna into the mud when a brick was thrown at his head, and proceed to take down the men who threw it with explosives he pulled from god-fucking-knows where.

Kyouya didn't approve of the clingy, flinch boy at first, but he approved more now. Especially since they both had an affinity to protecting Tsuna from everything and anyone.

When Iemitsu first struck Tsuna within their sight he was almost seven, and it was after the child had watched his father kicking Hayato in the gut for missing a target when they were training out in the back yard. Hayato was usually spot on, it was the first target Tsuna had seen Hayato miss.

Tsuna immediately attacked his father, not thinking, and acting on instinct. Something feral in the six-year-old's chest cued in with his training did not accept something that was _his_ –and by now his core had accepted Kyouya and Hayato as his –to be abused like that.

Tsuna hit the ground hard as Iemitsu kicked him away.

It was a mess of a day, because Kyouya –at eight –attacked with feral intent. His tonfa were spinning madly and he managed to get Iemitsu away from Tsuna while Hayato ran to his side. But Kyouya was no match for the man. All three boys ended up curled in Tsuna's room, the youngest sobbing every time he saw Kyouya's black and blue face, and saw Hayato flinch, regardless of his own throbbing ribs.

The abuse continued, whenever Iemitsu was home. It didn't even stay to Tsuna, Hayato and Kyouya took the punishment too, until Tsuna finally put his food down and made sure his guardians weren't in the house when his Father was home.

Tsuna knew what would happen as both Hayato and Kyouya grew stronger. Iemitsu would kill them if they continued to disregard his orders and as they grew too bold for Iemitsu's strangle-hold on them. Tsuna didn't know _what_ his father was doing, but whatever it was, if he didn't approve of Kyouya and Hayato's actions or attitudes, currently, he was strong enough to kill them. Tsuna knew, even at almost seven, that he would not be able to live with that.

Which was why, when Tsuna is ten, there is no joy when Iemitsu returns, this time with an infant who gives off the same aura as his father.

Tsuna cried for three nights straight against Kyouya and Hayato –who only get along now because Tsuna is _crying_ –when Nana merrily tells him that Papa is coming home with a new tutor for him from work.

Tsuna, by ten years old had had enough of all this.

* * *

The clusterfuck of a family had finally settled down. It was stull FUBAR, but at least now Squalo had a handle on it. Or more accurate was that the reins had slipped and he'd snatched them back, so the family was his again and he could make moves to save it.

He could now direct his men openly, and they had eyes and ears everywhere. Yes, Vongola still swarmed like an infestation in their ranks, but now Squalo had ears and eyes and knew who the rats were and was able to manipulate them.

It was a fucking, long six years without their leader. Squalo was handling it well obviously, he had been a key-in for leader until Xanxus had swanned in, but Squalo had known a true _leader_ when he saw one. So now he was acting as temporary leader, or at least he was to the Varia who were all revved up and awaiting their leader's revival, as far as the CEDEF and Vongola were concerned, Squalo was and would continue to be the leader until he was defeated.

But Squalo was beat tired. His and Xanxus' boys were pulling their weight, or else they were culled as was the Varia way, but they were tired. Lussuria was playing mother father and brother, Bel was keeping himself well for the sake of the others, Mammon was pulling every string he could to keep tabs on every mind in his vicinity, and even Levi the fucking pervert was glued to his devises and keeping his men in a line straighter than his belt. But it was still Squalo running the show with no second hand. After all, Xanxus was the ring leader and Squalo usually ran damages.

"Boss, the fuck are we doing?" Squalo was leaning against the ice, sitting on the floor while his boys guarded the doors for him. It had been at least four years since the Vongola insisted Xanxus be guarded when the Varia were 'visiting'.

The Vongola, under Iemitsu's arrogant, tainting leadership had grown lax, he believed nothing could take this power from him now that he had had Xanxus under wraps.

"You better be ready when we get you, boss. It's not the same." Squalo didn't know whether Xanxus was awake or not. He'd read somewhere that the people frozen in Dying Will ice were completely and utterly awake during their inertness, for Xanxus' sanity Squalo hoped those were false truths. Because otherwise he wasn't sure whether they'd ever get their leader back.

Squalo visited once a week, and the other guardians at least three times a month. They reported in the goings on, because if Xanxus _was_ awake, he needed to be keeping up. He needed to hear their voices and their resolve for the sake of his mind and whatever sanity he would have when they melted him. It wasn't Varia Quality to be sentimental, but it was Varia Quality to be thorough, if Xanxus was awake and listening, they'd give him a boat load of things to listen to.

Vongola thought the Varia had gone soft, which was all the better for them. Iemitsu was just assured, when he saw the boys go in and out of the cradle room, that the Varia were firmly under his thumb.

The boys were never _under_ Iemitsu's control and never would be. They were biding their time for their boss' return. They were playing good hounds and it had been working.

But Squalo couldn't stay long. He had meetings and today he was going with one of Iemitsu's men and Nono to meet with the allies. He was sitting in –obviously –for Varia; Cavallone, Bovino, Elexi, and Felexia would all be there, Squalo just hoped that the bucking horse wouldn't spend too much time questioning him that day.

Dino, though brand spanking new to the world of Boss-hood at twenty-two, was too close to the truth, and Squalo was too fucking tired to deal with it.

"Sit tight Boss. We're dealing with it."

Squalo still felt the kick when he left the icy room that was, if anything, too warm. There was nothing but silence as he prowled out; how many times had he wished that Xanxus' rough voice would wash over him with that cutting sarcasm asking where his gruff emotionless-second hand had gone?

How many times had been Squalo been disappointed?

* * *

Tsuna, even at ten, was very loyal. He had begged and begged his friends (who were now not just Hayato and Kyouya) to stay away from the house, even though one of his friends lived with Tsuna and his mother, while he sorted out the mess with his father and tutor. At least if the tutor was as cruel as Iemitsu, Tsuna could work out a way to make sure that his friends avoided him.

"Tsu-kun," Nana's voice drifted up to Tsuna's room, Hayato looked up at him but Tsuna was already making his way downstairs before the silver-haired boy could move.

Hayato had been living with Tsuna and Nana for almost five years now, Iemitsu had explained, with a frown and a sob story that had Nana almost crying, that Hayato was an orphan turned over to Iemitsu's boss, and how he thought that Nana would love another child, and that Tsuna would love a sibling.

When Tsuna got down stairs he was surprised to see Kyouya and Takeshi standing at the door, Takeshi was smiling in his usual way, but Kyouya was grinning unrepentantly. Horror grew in Tsuna's belly. Especially when Nana patted the boys' heads and ushered them towards Tsuna.

"Entertain your friends while Mama goes out to get some more groceries."

"You're going out?" Tsuna's voice barely contained his fear, Kyouya and Takeshi lost their grins.

"Oh don't worry. Papa and your new tutor should be here soon, so you need to be a good boy and wait for them."

Tsuna didn't even get to nod, he didn't get to voice his fear or denial before Nana patted Tsuna's head and was out the door, leaving Tsuna, Kyouya, Takeshi, and finally Hayato in mudroom once the silver-headed boy walked down the stairs.

"Why did you come?"

Tsuna's voice was almost hysterical, and shame flooded him. He knew he could protect Hayato to a point, but now all his friends were here and he wasn't strong enough. Takeshi didn't like the look on Tsuna's face.

"Maa maa, we couldn't let you face your old man alone; not if he's bringing a friend."

"You could have! You're allowed to stay away! It's bad enough Haya lives with me!"

Tsuna's face was flush and there were tears on his lashes and everyone could see the beginning of panic in his chest as he hyperventilated. But Kyouya patted his cheek first.

"We, little omnivore, are here to protect you. So you have to let us." Kyouya's voice was soft and steady, anything to get Tsuna calm. By now the twelve year old was well versed in calming the boys down. He was their rock after all.

"Yeah Tsuna-sama. You couldn't stop us anyway. We're your guardians." Hayato's eyes were serious as he watched Tsuna break down.

"No. You're not. Papa says you are, but you're not."

"Family then." Takeshi explained, a soft smile. "We're not your guardians, or your _family_ because Iemitsu said so, Tsuna. We care about you and your safety. So when you go through hard-ship we want to be there with you."

Tsuna didn't know what to say or think or anything but a calm settled over him. He cared for his friends more than anything, and a part of him was soothed when they returned his care. Even if they did it in unconventional ways.

"Tsunayoshi, Hayato, papa's home! Come greet Tsuna's new tutor." Whatever calm had settled over Tsuna was almost washed away when Iemitsu's voice washed over the room.

* * *

Fear.

The first and only things Reborn was aware of in the house within the first minute of being there was fear. After that seeped away he was aware of an aura of flames yet to be ignited. He had seen it before when tutoring the Cavallone boy, there was always this section of time before Dying Will flames were lit that smelt of something thick and sweet, like wet haylage and felt cool, like a breeze in the summer. And it was especially thick in the little house.

As Iemitsu called out, Reborn's eyes roved the halls. Sweet pictures of the family and with a young brunet with a group of other boys, there were flowers dotted on the mantle. But not a single toy laid around. It was curious.

Reborn could hear arguing, not words, but the tones permeated the walls. When they stopped, a tall black-haired boy strutted out, probably about twelve years old, all confident and full of himself and his strength; from Iemitsu's face this was not his son.

"Kyouya, where is my son?" Iemitsu's tone was steely, and Reborn was unaccustomed to that. Iemitsu was only that ridged when dealing with Made Men from other famiglia, he never spoke to the CEDEF with a tone less than kind, and even when they disappointed him he was never truly cold. Iemitsu didn't talk to the CEDEF like that, but this was a child.

"Sorry Papa." Tsuna ran out, Takeshi and Hayato trailing –Jesus they were close, almost stepping on the child's heels–behind the little brunet.

Reborn did a double take. The boy was almost an exact replica of Vongola Primo. His face was rounder, his chin less square. His hair was dark and his eyes were darker, but he was undeniably of Primo's lineage. If the portraits that lined halls of the mansion were accurate at all, no one would be wrong –past the whole 400 year time difference –to mistake the boy as Primo's own son. Anyone familiar with Giotto's portraits would see the similarities.

No fucking wonder Iemitsu kept the child under wraps.

"There's my boy!" Iemitsu was forward in a second, and had Tsuna in his arms, spinning the child and kissing his cheeks. But the boy and his friends had stiffened in the embrace. Which was probably because the poor boy hadn't seen his father in almost three year.

"H-Hello Papa." The boy greeted, and when he was put on the floor again Iemitsu ruffled his hair affectionately. Apparently though the boys behind him didn't like that and were quick to snatch him back, the oldest looking boy quick to step in front.

"My boy, you grew again while I was gone!" Iemitsu ignored the possessive friends, Reborn thought perhaps it was normal.

Tsuna just nodded and his eyes flickered to Reborn. Reborn, for his part, held the child's gaze, and he was surprised how long it took for the boy to look away; it was only his father moving that made the boy's gaze shift.

And was that gold Reborn saw? Perhaps training this brat wasn't going to be a waste of time.

"Boys, meet Reborn." Iemitsu gestured wildly to Reborn and the Hitman almost smacked the CEDEF head.

Instead he turned his gaze to the four children. There was something cold about them, especially about the way the onyx and ivory child in the front seemed determined not to let Reborn catch a glimpse of the other three.

But there was one thing to say about children, they were rather good at seeing things as they were. Not one child before him saw Reborn as anything but as he was. Children had an instinct that was trained out of adults to see threats; all four children knew what Reborn was, and his cursed body did nothing to stop the fear and anxiety coursing through them. They did not see a strange infant before them, or even question his height, what they felt was a man much stronger than themselves before them. That was all they care about.

It was refreshing for the Hitman.

"My name is Reborn, I will be your tutor, Tsunayoshi. Let's get along." The Iemitsu laughed, and Reborn did smack him, ignoring the flinch from all the children when he did. "What's wrong now, you oaf?"

Iemitsu just kept laughing. "You won't _just_ be tutoring my boy, Reborn. These are Tsunayoshi's guardians."

"He already has guardians?" That was a shock.

Most bosses in training, from Dino to Vongola's own boys before they died, were never told to pick guardians or even really what they were until they were of age, usually about thirteen or fourteen. It was a tradition, something to keep the children just that until they were old enough; if they didn't know and weren't searching for guardians there was no chance that they be used or be influenced into choosing unsuitable candidates. By fourteen most heirs had formed their own close-knit family and could chose with knowledge, whom would make up their guardians. But this boy was young, ten if Reborn's memory served, he shouldn't really be made aware of the role of boss and guardian yet.

And these boys already looked ready for war.

"Yup. Kyouya is the boy in front, Takeshi is to the left with the base-ball bat, and you know of Hayato."

Yeah, Reborn knew the boy. Reborn knew that the boy had gone missing after running away from his home when his mother died. Reborn knew of the fiery boy who cared for no one and who never fit in with family. Reborn knew of a boy with the potential for storm flames whose will to never be less than the best threatened to light when he was only six.

This Hayato, Reborn didn't know. This Hayato had eyes already burning with flames, but not Storm flames alone. This Hayato had already sworn his will over to the boy behind him.

"Ah, I know of him." Reborn mused, "How did this come about? I thought I'd be given a clean slate?"

Iemitsu laughed, and Reborn noted an edge to his voice. "I could never leave my boy completely useless. He's got a base of martial arts and weapons training in him." Iemitsu's sharpness disappeared all too fast.

"What weapons?" Now that was curious.

Reborn missed the paling of Hayato and Tsuna when Iemitsu spoke next, but he didn't miss the way Iemitsu's grin grew to be lecherous. "Guns of course."

* * *

Lussuria knew that he was running himself ragged. He knew it, and everyone else knew it. But at this time, with the Varia so delicately treading along this cliff, no one was going to mention it.

"Sir, can I get you anything, I'm on my way to the dinner," The voice was shifting, Lussuria could hear it in the ending of the tone. When his eyes swung to the man that was keeping pace with him his shoulders folded.

This was one of theirs_, home theirs trusted safe_, part of the cloud group; one of the ones who survived the culling once Xanxus was cradled. He like his brothers were aging well, fast with their leader unable, but well. "You know I can take care of myself."

"Aye you can sir, but I am also here to make sure you survive." He explained with a small smile that suited his ruff face.

Lussuria smiled softly, "Alright then sweetheart." The man didn't flinch as most new recruits and CEDEF's brood did, used to the affection –a constant in the Varia. "If you could get me one of those Day-Shakes I'd appreciate it."

The man frowned, Lussuria –and the others now that he thought about it –were drinking those like they weren't in a drought. He took it as a sign that things were speeding up. But at this rate they were going to keel over. Still this was an order. He'd just make sure there was more peanut butter in them than they usually did, just to help the sun guardians.

With a quick salute and a, "Alright sir." The boy was gone and Lussuria watched, pleased.

Xanxus would be fucking proud of his boys.

Speaking of proud, Lussuria saw that arrogant strut ahead of him. Iemitsu wasn't due back for two weeks as far as Lussuria was concerned, so why he was here now was concerning. So, being of Varia Quality, Lussuria was going to find out why he was back.

"Iemitsu." Lussuria hummed, _good naturedly good naturedly_, "I thought you were visiting your adorable little boy this month."

Iemitsu regarded the man with barely contained disgust, but Lussuria felt it and his smile almost faltered. "I was, he's settling in with Reborn, if you must know." His words were curt and his tone short. "Now, you don't have time to be talking to me, you've duties in the medic wing this week. Hop. To. It."

And he was gone.

Lussuria let the fury bubble to his face as he watched the man leave. Lussuria was absolutely vicious, he was lust, he was fury and gluttony and all the bad rolled into one. But he was also the mother and father and brother of the Varia right now. People loved him once they saw past everything else.

Which was why, with their ears in the Vongola, and his men swarming the medic's wing, no one blinked twice when Lussuria bypassed his section of the medic's room, no one even asked when he was missing in surgery, or when his station never ran out of supplies. Lussuria had more pressing matters to attend to right now that Iemitsu stalking the halls, and he's never know Lussuria _wasn't_ in the medics wing for his duties –the man wouldn't know he'd been hit with a studded bat if it hit him in the face. Lussuria was safe.

The Labs under the Vongola estate were regularly used, to produce medicines, warheads, explosives and anything you could think of, so for Lussuria to slip into the labs on the lower level instead of the medic ward on the second was of no concern to anyone around.

"Good afternoon, Lussuria sir."

"Good afternoon lovelies, tell me you have good news?"

Lussuria's team were a strong, bull-headed bunch. A mix of researchers and medical staff, they had banded with Lussuria with the single-minded purpose of ensuring the safe and healthy return of their boss.

"Not much, sir." A young woman replied, striding quickly with a clipboard in hand as she updated Lussuria on the findings. "But, we know one thing for sure."

"What's that my darling?" Lussuria asked, already buzzing with hope.

And the girl, a sweet little thing, smiled dazzlingly, "Boss is growing and aging at pace with us, there shouldn't be a singly physical thing wrong with him when the ice is melted besides some scaring and maybe some weight loss."

Lussuria grinned and pet the girl on her head. "That's wonderful, not let's see what else we can do to make the transitioning easier."

"Of course, sir."

Lussuria loved his group.

* * *

Reborn was suspicious from day one, from the minute he smelt the fear in the family home. So he made himself watch, the interactions between Tsuna and his 'guardians' and between Tsuna and Iemitsu.

It was suspicious to say the least. The flinching, the sobbing at night when Iemitsu was dead to the world, the ferocity in the boys schedule to arrive at first light and leave only when Nana practically shoved them out or told them to stay the night.

Those weren't normal actions in ten and twelve year old boys by any stretch.

But the real kicker was when Reborn was having private training with Tsuna and the boys. It was all calm and going well. Tsuna responded well to positive input, and when he was with the boys there was that thrum of _I've Almost Got The Flame But I Just Need A Final Straw_ amongst them that told Reborn he was close.

Tsuna made a mistake for the sixth or seventh time that day while going through a routine spar with Kyouya, and forgetting the boy's aversion to physical reprimand, Reborn gave the brunet a light smack on the back of his head. It was so light that the boy's head didn't even move forward.

"Dame-Tsuna, you've done this a hundred times, what's gotten into you today?" and even before Reborn finished there was a flurry of action.

Reborn suddenly had the thick end of a bat –because no matter how hysterical Takeshi got his father wouldn't teach him the sword yet –pointed right at his head and Tsuna had three people between himself and Reborn. Hayato had explosives in his hands and Kyouya had Tsuna in one arm and a tonfu in another.

"Maa maa, you're pretty cool Reborn, and your nice." Takeshi started, but then there was the shift and his eyes turned cold, "But if you ever try to hurt Tsuna like that again we won't show mercy."

Iemitsu was a grown man, and while Reborn was just as terrifyingly strong with an aura that choked them when he was angry, he still had a toddler's body and the four boys figured if it came to it, perhaps they'd have a chance at ending the man. All for their safety.

"I'm sorry."

And those were the right words, the boys lightened up, but Tsuna was always at least two boys away from Reborn for about two months after that.

Iemitsu didn't notice Reborn growing colder and colder towards him in the following months, or if he did, Reborn didn't know it.

The fact of the matter was, there was nothing at all suspicious in the way that Iemitsu handled the boys. Iemitsu had been good while he was at home this time, he pet their hair, and gave them treats. A part of the boys hoped that it meant he had changed, that he'd stop their punishment and would leave them _all_ alone. He didn't hit them, or yell, his reprimand was soft and he gave them rewards for a good days work every night.

Things were looking up for the boys.

Except it didn't last long.

They were at the place past Namimori shrine where no one ever went, training one day about six months into Iemitsu's visit home and Reborn's tutelage when Kyouya got cocky. He had seen Iemitsu fight, he had seen the man weaken and he thought, perhaps he could take the man out now and never have to worry again.

His Tonfu sunk into Iemitsu's gut and sent the man chuffing away, and Kyouya looked vindicated.

"You. Little. Bastard." Iemitsu's words were perforated with a huff of air as he sunk his foot into Kyouya's ribs. Reborn was frozen as he watched, because this wasn't a spar, Iemitsu was aiming to collapse the _child's_ ribs in. Reborn couldn't even think.

But Tsuna did, Reborn felt the spike suddenly rush through the area and when his eyes found the brunet child his eyes widened further, completely ignoring the fact that he was wearing emotions on his sleeve.

Tsuna wasn't cowering behind Hayato and Takeshi, he was up in his father's face, flames wrapped around his fists, his face and eyes lit with the same sky flames. Thick and heavy with newness, they were nothing like Reborn had seen. Yet even with new Intuition, and the rush of adrenaline and the energy that came with the flames, Tsuna lasted less than a minute, he was soon enough thrown into the tree closes to him, a choked sound echoing from his mouth when bark crushed and the tree snapped.

"You fucking brat." Iemitsu snarled.

Takeshi and Hayato were there in a minute, in front of Tsuna even as Iemitsu stalked forward, Kyouya growled and tried to stand but there was blood on his lips and Reborn knew something had been broken.

Chaos.

Reborn had never seen so much chaos even when he himself shot off his signature, because Tsuna's flames were still flickering wildly as his eyes roamed his friends, fear all gone and fury there instead, and Takeshi, Kyouya, and Hayato had that same look, their eyes welled with that eerie glow as static built around them.

Fuck him sideways, Reborn had never witnessed four people awaken their flames in such a desperate manner. He was ending this, now, or so help him Reborn would end them all.

"That e-fucking-nought, Iemitsu." The bullet caught the man almost in the nose, and Reborn for once didn't care.

Nono be damned, Reborn wasn't about to sit back and watch these _children_ being tortured like this.

He expected a fight, and he got one, Iemitsu turned on Reborn with rage in his cool eyes, his pick-axe swinging with deadly accuracy; Reborn had heard of his prowess, after all. Iemitsu was single headedly running CEDEF, he had no official second, and CEDEF was up there with the grand counsel of Mafia famiglia.

Reborn wasn't worried though, he wasn't worried until Iemitsu smirked and his flash of tainted sun flames roared through Reborn and the infant Hitman suddenly found the pick-axe buried in the tree behind him, already irritating his neck.

"You will not cross me again, Reborn." Iemitsu's voice was smooth with confidence.

"Like fuck I won't. I won't let you do this to them anymore, I'll have Vongola down on you like a ton of bricks; when I'm done with you your custody over these children and in CEDED will be done."

Iemitsu barked out a laugh. "Like hell you will. Vongola can't do _anything_ without me." Iemitsu's eyes were burning. "You couldn't get Nono to do shit, he's been under my thumb for years."

Reborn didn't know what to think, but suddenly things made sense, Nono's eyes, his flames, his smile that seemed so…empty; now he knew he had to act. "You think I need Vongola to move, I'll have the whole council shoving themselves down your throat."

But Iemitsu still didn't look worried. "You won't."

"The fuck I won't."

But before Reborn could move, Iemitsu dropped the bomb and walked away, towards the children who were pulling Tsuna away, trying to run but unable to pick up the prone child; Kyouya was almost on his feet.

"You won't. You know those bracelets, Lal and Colonello wear; they aren't trackers like most believe, and they aren't only poofs of their place in CEDEF." Iemitsu was almost cackling. "One word to them, or to any_one_ of the council about what you see, and you can say good bye to your fellow Arcobaleno. They'll be paint on the wall before anyone can even _act_ on your rumour." Iemitsu considered Reborn and grinned in a way that told Reborn more about Iemitsu's mind than any other action did. "And isn't it true, that there has to be a replacement for every dead Arcobaleno? You wouldn't kill your fellow and then make someone else live with your curse, now would you Reborn?"

Reborn was a Hitman, he had the tightest rein on his emotions that a human could get, but even he started to lose a grip on the enormous sun flames that filled his core. His eyes darkened and Leon grew hot in his hand as sun flames pooled into her.

"You wouldn't dare." Reborn hissed, his voice dropping low as his fury broached the curse.

"Oh I would, and I know you won't say a word. Because I'm tapped, and Oregano already has her finger on the trigger. So, Reborn, fucking try me."

But Reborn couldn't, he knew he couldn't. Iemitsu had him fucking pegged. Iemitsu had all the cards and Reborn had to think. But he burned, he burned so darkly when Iemitsu approached his child, he cast aside the two boys, knocking them flat and snuffing the flames before they could truly break through the skin, Kyouya roared somewhere behind Reborn, but he too was swiftly kicked to the side, this time, he didn't get up and Reborn saw the blood trickle from his scalp.

Reborn grew distant as Tsuna started sobbing, Iemitsu had him.

"You son of a bitch." Iemitsu snarled with his hands around Tsuna's collar as he lifted the boy, "You ungrateful little worm. Where did those come from? Were you hiding them?"

Reborn could only watch, horrified, frozen, as Iemitsu shook his son for all he was worth, screaming and demanding to know when Tsuna lit his flames and why he hadn't told Iemitsu. Tsuna was sobbing, the flames all but choked from him.

Iemitsu may not have known, but Reborn did, Tsuna has always had that flame there, he had always had the potential, the reason it hadn't lit before and why Reborn had been closer to wilfully pulling it out that Iemitsu had ever been was none other than Iemitsu himself.

Dying Will flames could be forced out in desperation, of course it could, it was _dying_ will after all; it just hurt a hell of a lot more to do that. But it was the easiest was to bring out the flames in most famiglia, who weren't Vongola anyway.

Iemitsu had scared away Tsuna's flames in a way, Vongola Intuition was intelligent, it was instinctual and it was there more than anything to protect the ones who harboured it. It knew enough –in that sentient almost ethereal way that made it terrifying –to figure out that if Tsuna's flames came out now when he was a child, Iemitsu would make his life hell. Tsuna's Vongola blood was protecting him form certain injury and possibly death.

Reborn could see that Iemitsu was about to up the training now that he knew the boy could summon them under desperation.

So, it was Iemitsu's anger, his beating and his words that send the Dying Will away, deep into Tsuna's core in a way that was almost self-sealing. It was no wonder the child could be so clumsy. Of course, it could only go so far, and Iemitsu had finally pushed the limit.

Reborn hid his eyes as he watched, frozen with the responsibility of the other Arcobaleno, frozen with indecision, frozen with a choice he'd never had to make under and emotional strain he'd never felt as Iemitsu gave up on the child and cast him aside into the two remaining children who were just barely standing.

"You better prepare yourself, boys. Because I'm not holding back anymore. You need to get your fucking act together."

Reborn's mind blurred through a hundred thousand ways to kidnap the children and get them out. Each plan though, ended with an image of Lal and Colonello painting the walls of CEDEF headquarters.

* * *

_Timeskip ~ Tsuna: 15 years old. Xanxus: 24. Present time: six months after defrost._

* * *

Xanxus sighed, something he was doing an awful lot more than usual lately. Though, he supposed that 'usual' was out the door the moment that ice covered him. After all, it was like Xanxus had a clean slate.

He certainly wasn't about to waste it.

"Any movement yet within CEDEF? Do we know where Iemitsu or his brood are?" Xanxus red eyes rolled over Squalo, where the man was pacing gently in front of him.

Neither Squalo nor Xanxus knew exactly who Iemitsu's brood was anymore. The CEDEF were the ones with the rings, and Iemitsu had jumped ship long before Vongola's men could move in, but Tsunayoshi was the aim at the end of the day.

Talking of Vongola, Squalo's eyes rolled over the report. Apparently the Ninth's guardians were still having trouble with the Vongola squads who had been highly influenced by Iemitsu, they had found more rats than real members and with the Ninth still locking himself in the psych ward under grief and strain they had to handle it themselves. Squalo didn't know whether he should be furious at the Ninth for leaving them hanging even _longer_ or pleased that the man was keeping the fuck out of the way when he still wasn't stable.

"We know Iemitsu is in Japan. He landed weeks ago. As for his runt we have no idea; Basil hasn't been seen since he swiped the half-rings." Squalo replied with a dry tone.

Someone had asked him years ago whether or not being in the Varia was dull of disappointment, after all they saw the worst of all the famiglia; they saw every betrayal and every broken bond. Squalo knew now that disappointment wasn't an emotion in the Varia. There was everything else, but no disappointment. You didn't set yourself up for failure that way.

"So, we don't know where to start?" Xanxus huffed, picking up his brandy, but when he touched it to his lips he thought better and chucked it at Squalo –missing by a huge margin –and picked up his coffee instead.

He had just gotten over the roughest fever he'd ever experienced, the illness had slugged him into bed, and any weight he gained in their first month in Japan was wasted away as the fever raged and his immune system dwindled. The illness had changed Xanxus' tastes, and now brandy just wasn't quite the same anymore.

"Sorry boss."

"Stupid trash, if I wanted your apology that glass would have hit you." Xanxus stood up, lethal in that graceful way that he had always had ingrained in his limps. His body fitting his mind now simply made him lethal like a big cat, and it thrilled his guardians. "Just fix it. Find the bastard that ruined us, and find him fast. I have a debt to pay."

"Your brothers would be proud." Squalo couldn't help but let that slip past, and when Xanxus froze in the doorway Squalo thought perhaps he said the wrong thing.

"Just get it done, Superbi."

Squalo rubbed a hand down his face once the door was closed, he and Xanxus always clicked, they clicked when they were boys, and they clicked now. There was no difference; except that this was everything Squalo expected Xanxus to be when he finally let his grief and fury go. But this was too quick, Squalo knew that things were about to get worse before they got better; Xanxus' fury would explode sooner or later, and Squalo hoped they'd have its target long before he did.

The phone on Xanxus' desk started ringing, and rather than get the boss Squalo answered it with a clipped tone, his Voooiiis cut down for courtesy of the caller; if they turned out to be someone less than useful Squalo wouldn't hesitate to make their ears bleed.

"Varia here, Squalo speaking. Make it quick or I might have to slit your throat through the phone."

A tired voice drifted over, tired but no less amused. "It is good to see you still have your spirits child. I hope my boy is just as spirited."

"Good evening Nono, sir." Squalo clipped, back snapping into place instantly out of the respect for the man's position. "Xanxus is doing fine, he's a fucking horse."

"That is good," The ninth sounded better, more himself and less tired. The man had been worn-down and nearly bone last time Squalo had seen him over the screen for one of their regular webcam updates, Xanxus had yet to face the man and Squalo understood why. It wasn't only the Ninth who suffered much psychological torture these last years. "but I'm sure you know I didn't call just for pleasantries."

"I would hope not, sir. You've fallen, but you haven't fallen that fuckin far."

Nono chuckled lightly again, but it wasn't tired now but mirthless. "I know where Iemitsu is going."

Squalo almost dropped the phone, and he was just mutely aware of Xanxus walking back into the room, eyebrow raised near his hairline. "I expect you're going to tell us where." Xanxus was surprised by the venom in Squalo's voice, he leant in close to the receiver to listen in, but otherwise remained silent while his second finished up his conversation.

"I will, for the sake of our famiglia. But, I must make a most dire request of you."

"I doubt that you're in much of a position to make requests of us, old man. We're trying to save this famiglia from this fuck-up." Xanxus' voice drifted over the receiver bitter as he deserved to be and Squalo could almost feel the awkward in the air.

"Ah, I realise, my boy. But I must try regardless." Nono paused and sighed deeply, sounding as haggard as Xanxus looked, "Iemitsu is headed to Namimori, Japan. Now, slaughter him for all I care, he is a traitor and he deserves what he gets, but please try to spare dear Tsunayoshi. He is an innocent in all this."

The wrath in Timoteo's voice bled into Xanxus and Squalo, and they had to wonder how the man ever let himself be destroyed and broken down by anyone. Still, Xanxus closed his eyes and Squalo could feel the buck in his flames as his emotions willed his core.

"If Tsunayoshi turns out to be just like his ilk he is as guilty as his father." Xanxus growled. "I will do what I can out of respect for our brothers, but I will not allow any threat to us stand again."

And the conversation ended like that, Xanxus' eyes burning with a new found will. A purpose.

"Get the boys, Superbi." Xanxus voice rumbled and Squalo got goose bumps, he's waited to hear that will again. "Our hunting starts now."

* * *

"Y-You're home, Tousan?" Tsuna's voice dropped and Reborn, who was sitting on his shoulder, could feel the boy's flames retreat upon instinct.

"Yes." Iemitsu didn't even try to play nice, he glared at his boys –since Lambo was in Tsuna's arms –and strode past. "Get your useless excuses for guardians here, I've got news from the famiglia."

Tsuna's gut clenched, and he shifted superfluously so that Lambo was out of the firing line, his father rarely talked about the mafia. Not unless they were training.

"Bad news?" Something about it spiked his intuition, and it roared in its usual angry tremor through Tsuna.

Iemitsu back handed Tsuna, and the boy's face swung around. "I said get your guardians here. We'll discuss it then."

* * *

**So here's **_**another**_** chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, there was a bit of bouncing around, but I wanted to get some of the past in place and get everyone caught up. Next chapter will be some more about the present, where the Varia are and where Tsuna and his guardians are.**

**I may have mixed up the time line a little since I didn't have all my notes with me when I was writing this, so if you see inconsistencies please don't be afraid to mention it to me and I'll see what I can do to fix them.**

**Thank you again, please review.**

**Love you all**

**~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3**


End file.
